1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display apparatus, and more particularly, to a display apparatus having a flexible printed circuit board.
2. Description of the Related Technology
Recent years have witnessed the widespread use of display apparatuses in a wide variety of products, including a television, a monitor, a notebook computer, a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a smart phone, and so on. Various product groups employing a display apparatus have different specification requirements. However, increasing the resolution of a display apparatus or reduction of the thickness of the display apparatus are common requirements, irrespective of product groups. To cope with the requirements, recently proposed display apparatuses include high-performance driving chips mounted therein to allow as many signal lines as possible to be densely populated in a narrow area and to process complex signals.
Meanwhile, the display apparatus is liable to be frequently exposed to external static electricity from the environment in which the display apparatus is used.
In particular, with the recent emphasis on the mobility of a display apparatus, the display apparatus is used in a variety of environments. Thus, a display apparatus may become more frequently exposed to the external static electricity. If static electricity is externally applied to the display apparatus, display quality may deteriorate and elements such as driving chips connected to signal lines may be damaged.
The present disclosure describes ways to effectively release the induced static electricity, including forming a ground pad on a flexible printed circuit board to make the same contact a sidewall of a bottom chassis. Since cutting is generally performed in the course of forming a flexible printed circuit board, a conductive pattern formed at an external periphery of the flexible printed circuit board is prone to damage. Therefore no conductive pattern is formed at the external periphery of the flexible printed circuit board. With this configuration in which a ground pad is formed on a flexible printed circuit board and contacts a sidewall of a bottom chassis, since there is no conductive pattern formed at the periphery at which the ground pad is stably brought into close contact with the bottom chassis due to a resilient force, ground contact resistance may increase, making it difficult to effectively release the induced static electricity.